This happens all the time in television, as audiences gear up for finales and live in a culture that demands titillating scenes before every commercial break.
This is especially true when it comes to something people care deeply about, like LOST. Throughout the tenure of LOST there have been expectations that primarily have to do with answers. We've wanted a good answer about the smoke monster. Check. Wanted an answer about that coffin. Check. What do the numbers mean? Check minus. Are we going to see that volcano again? (spoiler alert) They're coming back to it. And oh yeah, what's the deal with Richard?
THat last question was the sole topic of last night's episode of LOST, titled Ab Aeterno, which wikipedia says means "from the everlasting."
Now if my reading of TUCK EVERLASTING taught me anything, it's that everlasting refers to people that never die, like Richard. As for the latin phraseology itself, that was a red herring used to distract from Richard's true back story.
Going into last night I thought we'd learn that Richard had been on this island a much longer time than he actually had been. I mean c'mon, he's not even 200 and he wants to kill himself? Well i guess Bill Murray tried to kill himself pretty early on in GROUNDHOG'S DAY, but in his defense, he was reliving the same day.
So Richard was basically a slave who got shipwrecked on the island in the 1860s, and everyone on the boat was either killed by the captain's sword or the Man in Black (MiB) in smoke form. Oh yeah, he also has commitment issues, in that he's way too committed to his wife (even in death). On the island Richard meets the MiB, who tells him they're in hell, which echoes what he'd said to Richard in his wife's form. To get out of hell, Richard just needs to kill the guy loitering by what was left of the statue. Don't let him talk though, because then it will be too late.
Well, Jacob/the Devil does talk and Richard fails to stab him. Jacob ends up confiding in Richard that he brought him to the island to prove that people won't always sin, and that the past doesn't matter. During this conversation Richard accepts the job of intermediary, which makes him the counterbalance to MiB's efforts. Richard's job post doesn't come with healthcare benefits, but he doesn't need them since Jacob makes him live forever.
Before Richard hands in his two-weeks notice to MiB he gives him the white stone that we presumably saw the Man in Locke (MiL) throw into the ocean. Then MiB tell Richard he'll spend the rest of his life trying to hire him. (Or maybe that was what Don Draper told Betty on Mad Men, but it was something like that.)
And that was it. Those were the answers to Richard's history on the island. (Or maybe it was his flashsideways???? Probably not.)
I think I was content with the answers. I would have accepted something more convoluted, but i'll accept it. The let down i'm feeling now was inevitable. I won't posit any of my ideas about how it could have been better, but i will critique the story as it unfolded.
My main problem was that I didn't care about Richard's story. I found Dogen's little drunk driving story more moving than Richard's quest to save his wife's live. The back story failed to make me care at all about what was going on, and if it wasn't for the fact that I love Richard then i wouldn't have felt anything at all. The episode doesn't get good until MiB shows up, at which point we get a better idea about Richard.
That's really what i wanted. An idea about what motivates Richard, and we almost got there when Jacob explained his task to Richard. Richard learns that MiB is trapped on the island, and him getting off means spreading darkness/hell all over the earth. Since Jacob won't step in to combat his efforts, Richard accepts the duty of containing the devil.
I think this is where the episode should have taken off from, as we could understand Richard on the island. This is a man who has faithfully done his duty for about 150 years because he believes in the importance of the task. Instead we waste too much time before that, and we don't get a good feel as to why he is so mad at Jacob. What we get is a poorly conceived love story that wouldn't hold a candle to Juliet and Sawyer, Sun and Jin or Tom and the guy in his hotel room.
What's really interesting are the idiots who were expecting some big reveal about how Richard kept living. Do these same people want to know the physics behind time travel? The real questions on LOST aren't the hows, but the whys. It's what motivates characters that people need to keep asking, and the show's failure to really illustrate Richard's rationale for his time on the island is what makes this episode disappointing.
In fact, after reasoning it out in a rational manner, I'd say this was not well done. After letting my hysterical madness subside, I think i can say that i'm unsatisfied and with good reason.
But there was other stuff on this episode, specifically the fun back and forth at the end between Jacob and MiB. Jacob calls the rock a gift, which cemented my belief that it really was a practical joke. More importantly we got further proof the idea that MiB just wants to leave and Jacob is the reason he can't.We also learned that Jacob is confident MiB can't just kill him, since a replacement will take his place.
Through all of this, i just kept thinking that box'o'wine would never break.
Anyway, there wasn't much to digest from this episode, except that Richard was reminded of his task concerning MiL, which he seemed to accept.
Also, i liked when Jack learned that some form of Locke was still alive. During season five he told Richard not to count him out, even though it appears he had given him up for dead. I wish i could tell season one Jack how right he was about the "Locke problem" he predicted.
That's all i've got for this episode, since i'm too depressed to keep mulling it over. Next week is called THE PACKAGE, and it's either about a dildo or whatever Jin brought into LAX in his flashsideways. Hopefully it's both.
Your thoughts on revelations about Richard?
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